Chick-Fil-A is the gold standard by which other fast food restaurants are measured. They are #1 in revenue per store for fast food chains, bringing in $2.85 million per location.

One of those locations is about 3 miles from my house. Let’s go inside and see what they have…

Chick-Fil-A Low Carb Breakfast Options

The following breakfast entrees are rated based on their taste, carb count, and looks. Chick-Fil-A serves breakfast until 10:30AM.

Thank you to the Chick-Fil-A cashier who rang me up for individual ingredients instead of full entrees on these breakfast orders. You saved me about $1 per order.

Photos below are my own.

#1 Hash Brown Scramble Bowl with Chicken (No Hash Browns)

You might be thinking that this is an odd choice for my top spot. However, omit the hash browns and this becomes a low carb breakfast bowl with scrambled eggs, melted cheese, and three chopped chicken nuggets (3-4g net carbs).

My Low Carb Chick-Fil-A Breakfast Bowl

Price: $2.79

Macros: 290 calories, 4g net carbs, and 29g protein

Pair this entree with Chick-Fil-A jalapeno salsa if you need some extra spiciness. If you’re breading-sensitive, you can swap in a chopped sausage patty for the nuggets.

#2 Chicken, Egg & Cheese Bagel (No Bagel)

Comes with a half breast of fried chicken (5.5g net carbs), melted American cheese, and a folded egg. If you want fried chicken at Chick-Fil-A, your best bet is to come in the morning when the portion sizes are smaller.

My Low Carb Chick-Fil-A Chicken, Egg, & Cheese Bagel (No Bagel)

Price: $3.39

Macros: 290 calories, 7g net carbs, and 22g protein

You might notice the weird rotation and distracting glare in the photo above. This was one of the first photos taken during my low carb fast food challenge and I’ve been progressively trying to improve. The next photo was taken on the same day, so it’s similarly bad.

#3 Sausage, Egg & Cheese Biscuit (No Biscuit)

Comes with a sausage patty, folded egg, and a slice of melted American cheese. Bank error in my favor on this order –> they accidentally gave me double sausage and eggs.

My Low Carb Chick-Fil-A Sausage, Egg, & Cheese Biscuit

Price: $2.19

Macros: 360 calories, 3g net carbs, and 18g protein

The macros assume one sausage patty and one folded egg which is the norm for this order.

#4 Egg White Grill (No English Muffin)

Comes with half a grilled chicken breast, folded egg white, and a slice of American cheese. A little bland, but Chick-Fil-A has free packets of Texas Pete hot sauce available to spice it up.

My Low Carb Chick-Fil-A Egg White Grill

Price: $2.44

Macros: 150 calories, 1g net carbs, and 21g protein

This entree is light on calories, so you might need a double order to fill you up.

#5 Bacon, Egg & Cheese Biscuit (No Biscuit)

Every fast food joint offers a version of this bacon, egg, and cheese sandwich and they all seem to be mediocre. Chick-Fil-A’s is no different. Only get this if you’re tired of their chicken or sausage breakfast offerings.

My Low Carb Chick-Fil-A Bacon Egg and Cheese Biscuit (No Biscuit)

Price: $1.90

Macros: 190 calories, 3g net carbs, and 16g protein

Chick-Fil-A Low Carb Lunch & Dinner Options

The following lunch and dinner entrees are rated based on their taste, carb count, and looks. You can order them anytime Chick-Fil-A is open, but expect a preparation delay in the mornings.

In general, the fried chicken entrees taste better but have higher carbs so you have to weigh those trade-offs.

Photos below are my own.

#1 Chik-Fil-A Nuggets (8-count)

The Chick-Fil-A fried chicken nuggets are delicious. At 1g net carbs per nugget you can get away with eating about eight.

My Chick-Fil-A Nuggets (Fried)

Price: $3.49

Macros: 260 calories, 8g net carbs, and 28g protein.

I forgot to order their Creamy Buffalo Ranch sauce as I was intending, so I mixed my own dipping sauce at home using ranch dressing and Frank’s Red Hot. I let my food sit too long before eating it and the fried nuggets cooled off and got a little chewy. Lesson learned.

Ask the cashier to omit the grape tomatoes to save 5g net carbs. Another option is to switch this order from fried nuggets to grilled nuggets with no corn & no tomatoes and the macros become: 322 calories, 4g net carbs, and 36g protein.

#6 Grilled Chicken Cool Wrap (No Flatbread)

Comes with sliced grilled chicken breast, lettuce, shredded red cabbage and carrots, and a blend of shredded Monterey Jack and Cheddar cheeses. Request it with “no flatbread, in a bowl.” Pairs well with Chick-Fil-A’s Garlic & Herb Ranch dressing.

My Low Carb Chick-Fil-A Grilled Chicken Cool Wrap Closed

My Low Carb Chick-Fil-A Grilled Chicken Cool Wrap Open

Price: $5.45

Macros: 250 calories, 5g net carbs, and 28g protein.

#7 Spicy Deluxe Sandwich (No Bun)

This is another moderately low carb dish. Comes with a spicy fried chicken breast, pickles, leaf lettuce, two slices of tomato and Pepper Jack cheese. It would’ve ranked higher if it were lower carb.

My Low Carb Chick-Fil-A Spicy Chicken Deluxe

Price: $4.29

Macros: 472 calories, 13g net carbs, and 39g protein.

#8 Spicy Southwest Salad (No Corn, No Beans, No Tortilla Strips)

This is moderately low carb unless you also omit the four grape tomatoes which add 7 g net carbs. Otherwise it comes with grilled spicy chicken breast, chopped Romaine lettuce and baby greens, shredded red cabbage and carrots, four grape tomatoes, and a blend of Monterey Jack and Cheddar cheeses.

My Low Carb Chick-Fil-A Spicy Southwest Salad

Price: $7.45

Macros with tomatoes: 309 calories, 12g net carbs, and 25g protein.

Macros without tomatoes: 269 calories, 5g net carbs, and 23g protein.

Pair it with Garlic & Herb Ranch dressing for an extra 280 calories and 2 net carbs or try their Avocado Lime Ranch or Cream Salsa which have similar macros.

Low Carb Dressings and Sauces

There are some low carb dipping sauces and salad dressings at Chick-Fil-A that help add fat, calories, and flavor to your orders.

Dipping Sauces

Garlic & Herb Ranch – 140 calories, 1g net carbs, and 0g protein.

Buffalo Sauce – 50 calories, 1g net carbs, and 0g protein.

Salad Dressings

Garlic & Herb Ranch – 280 calories, 2g net carbs, 1g protein.

Avocado Lime Ranch – 310 calories, 3g net carbs, 1g protein.

Creamy Salsa – 290 calories, 3g net carbs, 1g protein.

Light Italian – 25 calories, 3g net carbs, 0g protein.

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Get my Chick-Fil-A Low Carb Menu one-pager if you want to see full macros for every low carb option. My menu has only the 33 items that are low carb friendly whereas the official Chick-Fil-A menu lists over 100 items.

It’s the same low carb menu I used to plan my five different orders at Chick-Fil-A for this fast food challenge.

What you should avoid

The most difficult thing about Chick-Fil-A is not getting fooled by their “we-sound-healthy-but-are-actually-high-carb” options. There are many of them.

Here is a list of the tricky items to avoid:

Tempting sauces to avoid:

Barbecue Sauce (AVOID – 11 net carbs)

Chick-fil-A Sauce (AVOID – 6 net carbs)

Honey Mustard Sauce (AVOID – 11 net carbs)

Polynesian Sauce (AVOID – 14 net carbs)

Sriracha Sauce (AVOID – 10 net carbs)

Tempting sides to avoid:

Chicken Tortilla Soup (AVOID – 14 net carbs)

Cole Slaw (AVOID – 16 net carbs)

Fruit Cup (AVOID – 15 net carbs)

Hearty Breast of Chicken Soup (AVOID – 17 net carbs)

Kale Superfood Side Salad (AVOID – 21 net carbs)

Tempting entrees to avoid:

Chick-n-Strips 4-Count (AVOID – 28 net carbs)

Overall Ratings for Chick-Fil-A

I rate Chick-Fil-A as low carb friendly because you can order their nuggets, bunless fried chicken sandwiches, chicken salads, and bunless breakfast sandwiches without cheating your low carb diet.

Low carb friendly – Yes.

Low carb entrees on menu – Yes. They have fried chicken nuggets (~1 net carb per nugget), grilled chicken nuggets (0 net carbs per nugget), and three different grilled chicken salad varieties that qualify. You can also special order bunless chicken sandwiches and bunless breakfast sandwiches.

Satiety of low carb entrees – Average. For my first meal at Chick-Fil-A I had a smorgasboard of grilled nuggets, fried nuggets, and a garden salad. I felt pretty full, but still found room for additional snacks. For my second meal, I had two bunless chicken sandwiches and similarly felt full, but soon after found myself snacking. Their bunless breakfast sandwiches are filling, but they seemed to give me extra food on accident and my appetite is smaller in the morning.

Ordering experience – Average. Everyone at Chick-Fil-A was friendly & astute, and the orders came back accurate, but drive-thru wait times are extra long because the restaurants are so popular. The drive-thru attendant also had some problems processing my bunless breakfast sandwich order. Ordering in restaurant was a good experience as I got manager-level service each time.

Chick-Fil-A is a relatively hospitable place for low carb eaters, especially if you can eat your meal right away while it’s piping hot. You just have to avoid a few trap foods that sound low carb but actually aren’t. You can read more about those foods in the “What you should avoid” section.

What’s next

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I’ll report back with final results for how this fast food experiment affects my health, well-being, and bank account. And you’ll get some simple low carb recipes and other tips from me for all the times you’re not eating in a fast food joint.